Bob Wachter, who is one of the founders of the Society of Hospital Medicine and the hospitalist movement, has a great blog called Wachter’s World. Here’s the latest post, an interview with Andy McAfee, self-tagged “technology optimist” and associate director of the Center for Digital Business at MIT’s Sloan School of Management. It’s a terrific conversation about the intersection of tech and humanity, in medicine and elsewhere. “My Interview with ‘Technology Optimist’ and 2nd Machine Age Coauthor Andy McAfee“

One of our favorite primary care MDs, Dr. Peter Elias, is an SPM member who teaches regularly, and well, on many topics, including using technology tools to enable better doctor-patient communication. In this post, which is essentially a report from the front lines of family practice by someone who knows, Peter tells us why he keeps teaching: to achieve a state of what he calls reflective competence. “I teach to remain a learner“

For those of us on the healthcare beat, understanding science and research reports is critical. It’s also not easy, which explains why major media outlets get the science, and therefore the story, wrong sometimes. One of the best sources for news analysis on medical and health science stories is Health News Review. They had a funding challenge last year, and had to shut down for a while, but they’re back, and better than ever. Here’s their analysis of recent headlines about a nasal spray that’s targeted at treating Alzheimer’s disease. “Nasal spray shows promise as treatment for Alzheimer’s disease“

And today’s humor is an oldie but goodie from Allie Brosch, the cartoonist behind Hyperbole and a Half. Here, she shares the new pain scale she created, which we think is both (a) funny and (b) more accurate than the pain scale you’ll see in common clinical practice. “Boyfriend Doesn’t Have Ebola. Probably.“